Cartridge shell



5 6 7, l 4 5, 1 E G D G H u H. 5 2 9 1 9, m Bu CARTRIDGE SHELL FiledNov. 12, 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 f si.

llllllllllll/lll l K l 'I Patented June 9, i925,

HOWARD HODGE, OFl NEW YORK, 1\T. Y., ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF T0 GEORGERAMSEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.V

CARTRIDGE SHELL.

Application led November 12, 1919. Serial No. 337,513.

To all lwhom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HOWARD D. Honen, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county of New York, State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Cartridge Shells, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The present invention relates broadly to ammunition and morespecifically to a shell for cartridges. 'Y

The present invention though simple in character brings into the artmany novel advantages some of which will be delineated as'objects of theinvention.

One objectof the present invention is to produce a strong light-weightwaterproof sheil for encased charges and the like, such as commonly usedin shot gun shells, and wherein the shell is capable of witnstandingrough usage.

Another object of the present invention is a shell for a cartridge, thebody tube of which comprises a single tube provided with reinforcingmembers constructed in such manner as to increase the tensile strengthof the body tube.

Another more specific object of the present invention is a shell aspreviously specii'ied and wherein the reinforcements comprise ribsprovided on the interior of the body tube.

A further and more specific object of the present invention is a shellof the character set forth and wherein the specified ribs are spirallyarranged in such manner that a plane extending longitudinally of theshell and including the axis thereof, will intersect a plurality of thesaid ribs whereby longitudinally extending splits in the shell areavoided when the shell is fired in a loosely fitting chamber.

A still further and important object of the present invention is acartridge tube for ammunition comprising a tube manufacturedk byextrusion and wherein the material in the body wall of the tube iscompressed upon itself.

A still further and important object of the present invention is a shellfor a cartridge having the body wall formed of a tube of aluminum, oraluminum alloy, which has been extruded under pressure through formingdies uf'hereby the metal of the tube is under compressive forces.

Another and important object of the present 'invention is theconstruction of a shell having a body tube formed of metal, such Aasaluminumvor an aluminum alloy, capable of being quickly stretchedwithout' danger' of rupture whereby the end of the shell may be crimpedover the end wad in such manner as to retain the ywad within the shelluntil relatively high pressure has been develhaving an aluminumfbodytube with the end thereof contracted over a waterproofed end wad in suchmanner as to form a tight waterproof joint therewith and vto retain saidwad against predetermined interior pressure.

Other and further objects of the present invention will in part beobvious and will in part be pointed out hereinafter in the specificationfollowing by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like partsare indicated by like characters throughout the several figures thereof.Y

Figure l is a longitudinal cross-sectional view illustrating aconstruction in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view taken on line A`-A ofFigure l.

Figure 3 illustrates one manner of finishing the end of the cartridge tomaintain a suitable support for the end wad and to form a waterproofjoint therewith.

Figure 4 is a perspective View of an end of a cartridge finished inaccordance with the construction shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 isa more or less diagrammatic view illustrating the preferredmanner of producing the body tube of the shell.

Heretofore in the art of encased charge cartridges, such as shot guncartridges, the most commonly used body wall has been a paper tube.Because of the softness of the paper the wall of the tube maydistort'under interior pressure due to tight loading, or atmosphericconditions may cause the paper to further soften or expand andy if theshell strikes part of the operating mechanism, particularly in anautomatic gun, the end ficiently in diameter when subjected to at.

mospherie dampness as to'become too large 4to enter the gun chamber and,although there have been many attempts'to suitably waterproof the paper,no strictly waterproof paper shell has yet been produced andV thereforethere is liability of the shell softening and deteriorating whensubjected to wet ordampness. This is particularlyntrue of the crimpedend portion of paper shells. Furthermore the side wall of paper tubeshells must be relatively thick as compared to metal shells and sincethe' exterior diameters are fixed standard sizes, the thick walls'cutdown charge spaceV and such shells must make this up by increasedlength.

Metal shells, usually brass, were formerly used for encased charges whena black powder was in general use. Black powder produced effectivepressures even though the charge was not confined underV pressure. "Whensmokeless powder came into general use, it was found that thesestraightended wall metallic shells were not satisfactory for use withsmokeless powder, the reason beingl that smokeless powder does notoperate effectively unlessy it burns under relatively high compression.The paper shell solved the problem, forthe use of smokeless powder, bytightly crimping the end of the shell over and against the end Vor topso that considerable internal pres'- sure developed in the shell beforethe crimp was broken. The development of the internal Ypressure in the,paper y, shell brought about a further difficulty which caused cut'-offs The body of the shell would be expanded tightly against the chamberof the gun and if there was any looseness between the head of thevshelland the breech ofthe gun, the head of the shell would move rearwardlywhilethe body ofthe shell would be tightly clamped against the gunchamber. This caused the base of the shell to be torn off and theextractor of the gun would pull the head from the shell when thechamber' was opened to eject the empty shell. This left the body of theshell in theI chamber and causedv trouble as well as danger. Sometimesthe out off forward portion of the shell travelled up into the bore 'ofthe gun and in rapidshooting, particularly with a magazine gun, therewas liability of a second charge beingfired without the discovery of theaccident to the previous cartridge. The firing of-the second charge insubstantially all cases resulted in either a bursted gun barrel orblowing off of the muzzle of the gun. The use of metal, such as brass,has not been Vsuccessful where attempts have been made to bend over orcrimp theend of the shell., Qne reason is that brass does not draw orstretch quickly, so that,

In order to preventy cut-offs77 in paper shells, it has been foundnecessary to reinforce the interior of the shell. This is usually doneby introducing a steel or metallic lining which adds to the weight andexpense of the shell, as well as restricts powder charge space. p

Aluminum has Vbeen proposed as a material for the body of the shellsbecause of itslight weight and non-corrosive qualities, but. aluminumshells have heretofore been reinforced with the paper tubes so that-thesidewall of the body of the tube has been as thick or thicker than inthe paper tube shells'. Y As above set forth,- a thick body wallnecessarily cuts down the interior cross-sec tion of the shell, for astandard bore, and therefore requires an increased length cartridge.Furthermore, with an increased thickness of body wall, the diameter ofthe wads, in front of the powder charge, necessarily is smaller thanwould be the diameter of a wad in a shell of the same gage which has athin body wall; and it is desirable that the wads shall lit the bore ofthe gun tightly in order that the full benefit ofthe powder gases, maybe realized. vTherefore the` thin body wall shellY has better ballisticsthan the thick-walled shell.

Composite metallic shells have been proposed whereinV the shell wall wasreinforced its complete length and wherein the thin metal portion of theshell was' turned over1V and folded back upon itself parallel to theside wall in substantially the same manner as the crimp on the papershell. This type of very thin metal wall tends to fracture when firedbecause of the fact that the end wall of the shell must unfold through180j in an extremely short period of time and the gases either splitthis end or tear it ofi' and leave'it in the barrel. V Y

YThe cartridge comprising the present inyention is provided with arelatively thin Y body tube, preferably formed of ductile material.Preferably the material in the body tube is material inthe state ofcompression such as is the metal in an extruded tube and the interior ofthe body tube is preferably reinforced by 'ribs which Vmay or may not beformed integral with the wall. In the preferred form, these ribs areintegral with the wall. The ribs extend longitudinally and may be eitherstraight or inclined in such manner that the spiral inclination of theribs is suflicient for the projection of the base of one rib to lap theforward end of another rib, whereby a longitudinally extending planeincluding the axis of the shell will intersect a plurality o f ribs.This spiral arrangement prevents splits in Cil the side wall of the tubeand the additional longitudinal StrengthprOVided by theribs preventscut-offs. By thisconstruction the necessary strength is obtained, in kalight weight, large, internal diameter shell, which is economical tomanufacture and load.

A more import-ant function of the ribs, however, is to completelyVprevent cutoffs. The ribs furnish greatly added resistance to theshearing effect of the powder pressure. and even if through defectiveloading-such as may' occur under hand re-loading-or because of a loosebreech blockin a gun, Ythe shell'is ruptured laterally, the ractureoccurs in only a small portion of the body wall, and the ribs enable theeX- tractor to function properly to withdraw the entire shell from thechamber..

The relative thinness of the body wall permits a standard charge to beencompassed in a shorter shell than is possible with a thick wallconstruction. This fac-t increases the carrying lcapacity Aof magazinefirearms, and also decreases the external bulk of the cartridge so thatthe same amount of ammunition occupies less space than heretofore.

The forward end of the body tube is curved inwardly to extend atsubstantially 900 to the side. wall of the tube and is tightly seatedagainst a waterproof end wad in such manner as to form a .substantiallywaterproof jointrbetween the wad and Ythe end of the body wall. Thisconstruction forms a waterproof shell which does not deteriorate evenwhen submerged in water for long periods of time.

lVhile the body tube may be constructed in various ways withoutdeparting from the present invention, the preferred manner of makingthis tube comprises extruding al proper material, preferably of aluminumor aluminum alloy, through extrusion dies whereby the metal is highlycompressed. rThe extruding operation increases the tensile strength ofaluminum up to as much as 38,000 pounds per square inch. Furthermore,this method of forming the tube leaves the metal under compression, acondition best adapted to resist the pressures developed by the powdergases and produces an eX- tremely strong wall which therefore may be ofa relatively small thickness. It has been found such shells may be firedand reloaded a large number of times before the shell fails. The life ofsuch an aluminum shell is much longer than that of a paper shell.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings t Figure 5 illust-ratesdiagrammatically a preferred manner of forming the body wall tube andcomprises a die l provided with a cup in which a metal blank is placedand subjected to very heavy pressure. A nose member 2 of slightly lessdiameter than the opening in the forming ring of the die l is arrangedwithin the die opening and is preferably provided with grooves 5 whichmay be spirally inclined. The blank 6 of metal, preferably aluminum oran alloy of aluminum, is introduced into the die l and the blank issubject to heavy pressure by suitable powerful mechanism thereby causingthe metal in the blank to flow between the nose 2 and the ring die. Thismetal assumes the form of a tube 7 the interior of which is providedwith ribs 8.

The preferred form of the cartridge con1- prises a shell with a bodywall formed of a section of the extruded tube 7 and with the baseprovided with a base wad 9 around which the body wall is secured andwhich is covered with a. reinforcing head 4or cup l0 preferably ofbrass.This head l0 is recessed to provide the usual primer cup 11 whichretains the primer l2. When the shell is loaded the outer end thereof isclosed by the end wad 14. This wad is securely seated against the chargewithin the shell by a suitablej loading mechanism, and the end wall ofthe shell is crimped or brought over the end wad in such manner that theedge of the end wall is substantially parallel to the surface of the endwad, and at substantially right angles to the side wall ofthe shell. Themetal between the right angle portion and the side wall isrounded,.preferably to be of the form of a portion This crimp orbeadingL may be accomplished either by suitable dies or by spinningoperation andthe metal is preferably leftin such condition that when theshell is fired the sudden explosion and expansion of the gases causesthe bent-in portion of the shell to assume the position 15 indicated inthe dotted lines in Figure 3 against the side wall of the gun bore, alsoindicated in Figure 3 i1'. dotted line, without the metal rupturing orspliting.

This crimp does not yield until a predetermined pressure has developedin the shell and the amount of shell wall crimped over the end wad ispredetermined in such manner as to give the proper ballistic action tothe propelling charge of smokeless powder.

I realize that the present invention may be carried out by constructionsother than that shown and described, and therefore I desire suchdisclosure to be taken as illustrative and not in the limiting sense,and wherever the word aluminum is used in the claims it is intended torefer to aluminum, an alloy of aluminum, or the equivalents thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. As an article of manufacture, a charge of encased ammunitioncomprising a shell having' a single tube of extruded aluminum providedwith a smooth eXt-erior and with longitudinally extending spirallyinclined of a sphere.

ribs on the interior of a. .portion of 'said tube and adapted toincrease the longitudinal strength of said tube and thereby preventingcut-offs, the inclination of said ribs being such that a plane parallelto and including the axis of the tube will intersect a plurality of saidribs whereby longitudinal splits in said tube are also prevented, andmeans to retain the powder gases within the shell until a predeterminedpressure is developed.

2. As an article of manufacture', aV charge of encased ammunitioncomprising a shell having a body tube of extruded aluminum, a chargecomprising projectiles and high pressure powder within said shell, a topwad upon said charge, and means for retaining said topv wad within theshell until a predetermined gas pressure has developed Within saidshell, said means comprising a predetermined crimp upon theV end ofthetube 'and withthe end portion over the VWad at right angles to thebody wall over the tube and a rounded portion extending between the endVedge and the side wall. i

3. As an article of manufacture, a shell for encased ammunitioncomprising abody formed of extruded reinforced aluminum, va plurality ofreinforcing ribs carried by said body said ribsbeing on the interior ofthe body, and the exterior ofvsaid body beingl 4. As an article ofmanufacture, a shell for encased ammunition comprising a body formed ofextruded aluminum, and reinforcing means integral with said body, saidmeans comprising a plurality of reinforcing ribs carried said body, saidribs being on the interior of the body, and the exterior of said bodybeing smooth.

5. As an article of manufacture, a shell for fixed ammunition comprisinga body formed of extruded aluminum, and' reinforcing means integral withsaid body.

6. Asy an articley of manufacture, a shell for fixed ammunitioncomprising a body formedv of extruded aliuninum having a smooth externalsurface and a plurality of reinforcing ribs integral'with a portion ofsaid body to rincrease the longitudinal strength thereof, said yribsbeing on the interior of the body. i

7. As an article of manufacture,a shell 'for fixed ammunition comprisinga body formed of extruded aluminum, and a plurality of reinforcing ribsintegral with a portion of said body to increase the longitudinalstrength thereof.

8. As an article of manufacture, a shellV fory fixed ammunitioncomprising a body formed ofextruded aluminum.

9. As an article of manufacture, a charge of encased ammunitioncomprising a shell having a body tube of extruded aluminum, a chargecomprisinggshot and powder within said shell, a top wad upon saidcharge,Y

apredetermined crimp upon the end of theV tube and with ythe endportions over the wad at rightangles to the body wall of the tube., anda rounded portion extending between the end edge and the side wall.

HOVARD D. HODGE.

